The Khan at Khirbat Faynan

An Early Islamic Structure

A large rectangular colonnaded structure on the summit of the Khirbat Faynan is visible on aerial photographs. It is associated with scatters of Early Islamic pottery, and is likely to have been an administrative building or a Khan. These were hostelries for travellers and traders, sometimes constructed within a town, and sometimes on the roadside.

If this interpretation is correct, it suggests that the Wadis Faynan and Ghwayr may have continued to act as an important routeway from the Wadi Araba to the plateau, or there may have been a continuation of pilgrimage to the area.